Solaces of Humanity, Madeline's POV
by ARTEMIS13 MAXIMUS
Summary: A companion story to my friend's tale, Salvaging Humanity. A story about two friends battling the perilous world of Final Fantasy VII
1. Chapter 1

Madeline's POV:

There is never only one view on any series of events, only one perspective on a story or vantage point from which to tell a tale. What follows are some pivotal moments acted out through my eyes in my and Sarah's story:

The moment the teacher said no talking whatsoever my heartbeat quickened as if shocked by an electrical spark and I felt a queasiness rise in the pit of my stomach. I wasn't worried about talking to other people, as if I would want to when surrounded by this class of idiots, but I knew I couldn't survive a whole hour-long test without talking to myself. I don't really know why I talk to myself…it might be a sign of my growing insanity, or sometimes my head is just bursting with so many confusing thoughts that I need to say them out loud. Seeing as how I had no plans to die over my talking-out-loud habit, I quickly ripped off a piece of tape from within my desk and stuck it to my lips, taping them shut. Slightly ridiculous, I know, yet very effective. I finished the test with ease, and as I was imaging what my various classmates would look like dead, I felt a tingling sensation at the base of my skull, an itch as if someone was watching me. Turning around I saw who that someone was. A girl who sat a few desks away was blankly staring at me. I had seen her a few times before, but I don't really go out of my way to speak to people, unless, of course, they are irritating me meaning that I then have to tell them to back off. Her platinum-white hair was in long pinned pigtails, making her look too innocent for this school, and its bright hue was in stark contrast to her dark red eyes, now fixed on me. Suddenly, anger filled me as she continued to stare at me. Who did this girl think she was, watching me so intently as if she were trying to peer into my soul? I hate the people in this school, but I vowed to let them be as long as they didn't seek to irritate me, to get under my skin and probe what is within me. After I had glared outright at the girl for a few moments, she laid her head down on the desk, seemingly not affected by my hostile gaze. I frowned in confusion, normally people respond to my scathing looks by wincing,backing away, or at least averting their eyes uncomfortably from my own. _This one didn't care_. With that thought still resounding through my mind, I quickly moved my leg so the blood spurting from the first student killed didn't splash me.

I had assumed that I would never interact with this girl again. I mean if I have been able to seclude myself from the entire training class for as long as I have attended this school, continuing to ignore one more girl shouldn't be an issue. This supposition was wrecked as my foolish teacher paired her and I together for our final survival project, only a month after I had first seen her. However, instead of tearing each other's throats out as I thought would occur, we surprisingly traveled together well. She didn't even complain when I talked to myself. The only knot in our happy, if somewhat silent journey came with the arrival of the two Turks.


	2. Chapter 2

It took just two Turks to shatter Sarah and mine's world. Just two Turks hunting us for years, two figures from our pasts that haunted the fringes of our minds, just two creatures to tear down the home that Sarah and I had built in that little village where I had been born. Two Turks to burn it all away. However I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to when Sarah and I first arrived at the village after our first battle with Pyro and Sora…

_This headstrong girl is going to get herself killed._ That was the thought running frantically through my mind when I realized Sarah had no intention of staying in the village. That she was planning on leaving me and heading back into the forest when the Turks could still be hunting us. I got her to promise she'd stay for at least a night. I figured that come morning I could convince her to remain in the village for longer. She might be headstrong, but I knew I had a will to match hers. Maybe she knew this as well, because when I went to find her the next morning, she was gone. Without thinking, only feeling an absolute need to make her stay, to not let her leave knowing that she might be killed, and boiling over with fury that she had attempted to evade a confrontation and left me without saying even good-bye, I snatched up my brother's sword, its weight cumbersome in my hands, and sprinted to the outskirts of the woods. There she was, her back to the village as she retreated into the shadows cast by the massive trees, her head lowered as if trying to hide her face from the world. But I knew her by those white pigtails swinging over her shoulders, bouncing with each step she took. Furious not only at her, but at myself for feeling such a deep connection with this once-stranger, for entertaining such a bond when I knew it could only hurt me in the end, I impulsively hurled the sword at her head. As I had figured she would, Sarah swiftly dodged the sword, which sunk deep into a tree just beside her. She turned to me, and I suddenly knew, with utter certainty, why I had brought that sword here today. Just looking at her face, and feeling as if that new bond that had tied us together was being wrenched apart, I realized that I couldn't let her go, that when I had let her into my heart I made my choice. There was something between us, a thread that bound us together, a bridge between our souls, now fledging and weak, but with the potential to be strong, to be everlasting, and to replace any crumbling bonds I had felt before. The last time I had felt something like this…had been with my brother. I gave her his sword that day, handed over the last piece I had of him after everything else had been swept away with his death. For a moment, when she took the sword, doubts rose to seize me. _She'll leave, she won't appreciate it, she doesn't sense the bond that I do,_ but then every unbelieving thought faded away as she gave me the gun that had once belonged to her sister. With that gesture I knew she understood, understood exactly what I had discovered between us. And even when I threw my arms around her in one of my characteristic rambunctious displays of emotion, she only smiled slightly, but I knew that it was as much emotion as she could show, and she let me drag her back to the house, as overjoyed now as I had been furious before. That day, that moment when she almost left my life forever, was the beginning of a friendship deeper than words and laughter, a friendship built on the affinity and contradictions of our souls, the differences that made our relationship vibrant, and the similarities that bound us together. Two souls that completed each other. I swore then that I would protect her, and the home we built together. It was easy to make that promise at the time.


End file.
